On Tuesday night I got the chance to attend a tasting organized by Appleton Estate, the famous Jamaican rum producer. The tasting was led by Joy Spence, master blender at Wray & Nephew (producers of Appleton Estate). Joy was an interesting character. She had a fun and not-too-serious approach to rum, but the look of concern on her face when she described how the Hilton was using her 21 year old rum to mix cocktails indicated that her easygoing demeanor only extended so far. There was no doubt she was serious about her work. Tickets were fully booked by the time I realized this tasting was happening, but Jak Jakicevich of Glengarry Wines kindly managed to squeeze me in after a last minute cancellation. The tasting was more action-packed than any other I have been to, adding up to a very entertaining evening. I was glad to be able to make it.

Joy started by giving some general background on rum classifications. Samples of generic white, gold and dark rums helped clarify the basic classifications. The white was not identified by name, but I assume it was Appleton White (in New Zealand sold only as a well rum). It did not have a lot of character. The gold and dark were the respective versions of Coruba. The Coruba Original (the dark) impressed me. I had not drunk this stuff in years, overlooking it as a generic mass market product. It is good though – rich, aromatic and with a bit of personality – definitely a handy mixing rum for times when you need a full flavor.

Production of Appleton Estate

The session then moved on to cover rum production, and particularly that at Appleton Estate. Appleton Estate has a unique geography and micro-climate. It is situated in Jamacia’s Cockpit Country, an elevated valley of karst limestone formations ringed by mountains. The combination of elevation and surrounding mountains create a micro-climate of sunny mornings and wet afternoons which favors sugar cane growth. Furthermore, the heavy rainfall interacts with the limestone to create an especially rich soil. According to Joy there are only three karst limestone regions in the world (in Jamaica, Yugoslavia and China), and Cockpit Country is the only one with a climate suited to growing sugar cane. Joy is actually wrong about this. The Chinese karst limestone region is the largest in the world, occupying a sizeable part of Guangxi (and maybe also some neighboring provinces), and is also a major area of sugar cane cultivation. Logically you would expect the Chinese to also have a tradition of rum production. I have never heard anything about it though. Anyway, that Appleton Estate is set in an ideal region for sugar cane cultivation is indisputable.

All of the Appleton rums are distilled from molasses, with a house yeast and soft spring water being added to produce a ‘molasses wine’ with approximately 7% alcohol by volume. This is then distilled in either column or pot stills. To get a handle on the influence of still type we tried samples of column and pot distilled rum, two radically different products. The column still rum is concentrated to around 96% alcohol by volume, and has low esters and a sharp character. The pot distilled rum has only around 86% alcohol by volume, and the lower purity of alcohol results in high esters and hence huge aroma and complexity. Although the samples we tried had been diluted with water to somewhere around 40% the difference was still night and day. The pot still product strongly reminded me of a French Rhum Agricole, making me confused as to how much of the differences between ‘agricole’ and ‘non-agricole’ rums relate to pot versus column distilling, and how much relate to fermentation from sugar cane juice versus molasses. Joy mentioned that Jamaica has the greatest variety of high-ester pot still rums in the world. I have heard this before, and I guess it means there are some really interesting and eccentric Jamaican rums out there. Sadly Appleton Estate does not produce a 100% pot still rum, with all of their products being blends of pot still and column. This is a shame because I think a fully pot distilled product would be really interesting. On the other hand, taking the glass-half-full perspective you can say that at least none of their products are 100% column still.

Next we got on to the matter of aging, which Appleton Estate does in used bourbon barrels from Jack Daniels. As with any spirit, the barrel aging process contributes cellulose (for sweetness), tannins (for woody flavors and color), and flavonoids (vanilla, coffee, cocoa and other smooth flavors). The fact that the barrels are pre-used prevents the tannins becoming overwhelming. On the other hand, barrels must be reasonably new to make a meaningful contribution, and so Appleton Estate retires barrels from reuse after a fixed time. Jamaican rums are aged at around 80% alcohol, higher than in most rum producing countries. At this point, another couple of samples of rum demonstrated the effects of aging. Again we tried a column still rum against a pot still rum. Aging transformed the column still rum, which picked up some interesting buttery characteristics. I was starting to see the contribution column still rum can make, without it the Appleton Estate rums would lose their smooth house taste. The pot still rum was also smoother and richer after aging, though the rough-around-the-edges unaged version was good too.

Age statements on rum bottles are a mine field, with labeling laws varying by country. As a general rule of thumb it seems that the Spanish speaking territories have flexible labeling regulations that allow rum labeling to be based on the ‘average age’ in the blend (open to manipulation depending on the formula used to calculate the ‘average’), while the English and French speaking territories require age statements to refer to the minimum age of the blend. Many territories also allow additions of fruits, peels, honey, spices and so on, all of which are forbidden in Jamaica. Since Jamaica produces spiced rums as well, I guess that adulterating rum with flavorings is permitted in Jamaica if the label states that the contents are not pure rum.

The Appleton Estate Range

By this stage we were all more or less rum experts and it was time to assume very serious expressions and taste the Appleton Estate range of rums. Ambitiously, Joy started us on the Appleton 21 YO.

- Appleton 21 YO is the top rum in the regular Appleton Estate range – though it has recently been outdone by a limited release 30 YO. It is a premium gold rum, with long aging producing a dark color. The remainder of the Appleton Estate range also appear to fall into this category. Joy told us to look for a shadowy olive-colored ring on the meniscus of the rum as an indicator of aging. This visual phenomenon supposedly indicates the presence of tannins, and should be more intense in older rums. I found that all of the Appleton Estate rums displayed this effect to some degree, making it a matter of differentiating the subtle color differences. You probably need to practice this on a lot of rums before it becomes informative. Without practice it is still a great way to make yourself look knowledgeable. Joy also suggested using the legs of the rum to indicate body, by tilting the glass and observing the flow of the droplets – much as you would for wine. On tasting the rum was extremely smooth, with lots of vanilla, quite a bit of tannin, and some honey. The finish was long, and just a little bitter. It was a very pleasant sipper, but not a flavor explosion in the way that many single malts are. I would say it was well suited for either sipping straight or mixing in simple cocktails that showcase the base spirit – e.g. a rum Old Fashioned.

- Appleton VX is a blend of 15 rums and the introductory level rum in the Appleton Estate range. It was fresh and lively compared to the 21 YO, and the emphasis was on dried fruit, with prominent apricot and orange aromas. There was not much of a finish to it, but it was pleasant. I could not call this rum inferior to the others in the range. While it lacked the depth of flavor of the others, it had a unique fruity profile that they lacked. I can imagine it would work nicely in a Planters Punch and other cocktails containing juices.

- Appleton Reserve 8 YO was spicy. The orange notes from the Appleton VX were still there, but this time sprinkled with nutmeg. There was also some buttery richness to fill out the palate. This would be fine straight or as a mixer. It would not be a crime to mix it in a juice heavy drink or cut it with cola, but it also has enough backbone to work in more spirit heavy recipes.

- Appleton Extra 12 YO was fuller bodied than the 8 YO and had a much longer finish. There was a chocolate taste that the 8 YO did not have, plus a suggestion of honeycomb. Rounding things off there was a pleasant burned butter taste – rich with a hint of bitterness. Definitely one to sip on by itself, or use in cocktails that show off the base spirit.

- Master Blenders Legacy was less spicy than the previous two rums, instead running towards being sweet, fruity and fully bodied. The fruit flavors were intense, and sometimes it seemed almost like a chocolate laced pear eau de vie. It was rich and buttery with a long finish. This rum would surely go well with desert. It might also be nice in cocktails that include delicate aromatized wines like Dubonnet or Lillet. The rum has no age statement but is a blend based around 30 year old rum. In terms of price it falls about midway between the 12 YO and the 21 YO.

All the Appleton Estate rums share a house flavor, but tasting them alongside one another reveals big differences in character. Which one you reach for really comes down to personal preference and what type of drink you have in mind.

An Unsuccessful Foray into Rum Blending

The next part of the session saw us split into teams attempt to blend our own award winning rum. We were given four blending rums to work with, and our mission was to create a rum suitable for mixing in juice based cocktails. The idea seemed to be to produce something similar to the Appleton VX. The task was harder than you would expect. We came up with a pleasant blend, but it had the characteristics of a sipping rum more than a mixer, with respectable aroma and finish, but without the body a true sipping rum demands.

The winning team was one table over from us and their approach had been interesting. A full 40% of their blend was probably the most aromatic of the four rums, with a note running through its aroma that was intense to the point of being a bit unpleasant. We had used this rum very sparingly. Somehow though, when they combined 40% of this rum with around 40% of something else, they ended up with a rich and flavorful base, which they finished off by adding about 20% of the last two rums. It was an interesting demonstration of how complex blending is. A mixture that seemed counterintuitive to me actually worked very well.

A Couple of Questions

I asked Joy about the Wray & Nephew Pimento Dram. It does not seem like this is going to be imported into New Zealand anytime soon – or ever really. The local Appleton Estate brand representative cited lack of demand and poor labeling. The new label and name (Berry Hill) are a little cheesy I guess, but they obviously work in Jamaica. The lack of interest is a pity because this is a high quality and very interesting product. At least it is not too hard to make yourself though. You can check out my own efforts at producing Pimento Dram here.

I also asked for the low down on the notorious Wray & Nephew Old Tom gin. Old Tom was a lightly sweetened style of gin popular in England during the 18^th and 19^th centuries and no longer produced commercially – except by one of two companies that have recently flirted with resurrecting it. Old Tom is widely called for in older cocktail manuals, and while London Dry and Plymouth were the mainstream gin styles by the early 20^th century, Old Tom continued to occasionally appear in cocktail recipes at least into the 1930s. Wray & Nephew produces a gin for the Jamaican market under the brand name Old Tom. Despite the name, this product is not an authentic example of the Old Tom style that somehow survived in far flung Jamaica. Joy Spence dismissed the Wray & Nephew Old Tom as a cheap and nasty product manufactured using essences for undiscriminating local drinkers. I guess at some point somebody decided they liked the name Old Tom and built a brand out of it. I forgot to ask how far back the Wray and Nephew Old Tom dates, and where the name came from. It would be interesting to know.

Don’t Underestimate that Coruba

Finally, while not meaning to lower the tone at the end, I was surprised by the Coruba Original. I had more or less forgotten about this stuff, but it is actually interesting, being an old-fashioned dark style of rum with higher than average pot still character and a reasonable price to boot. The Appleton Estate range contains plenty of variety, but they are all gold rums and will not work in every recipe calling for Jamaican rum. Sometimes you just need an indelicate aromatic punch, something Coruba can supply. It is probably a bit sweet for rum and cokes, but I can imagine using it in a Planter’s Punch, or as a rum float on tropical drinks.

There also appear to be some more premium aged versions of Coruba that I bet would be quite good. I have never come across these in a shop though.

The first time I tried making Pimento Dram I had limited access to raw materials on account of being in Shanghai. I couldn’t find whole allspice or Demerara rum! It’s amazing I made pimento dram at all. A holiday to Cambodia and Hong Kong sorted out the spice problem, while for the rum I improvised by using Bacardi 151 – a bad idea. My first attempt was as follows:

Infusion

½ cup allspice in the form of lightly crushed whole berries (actually slightly more because my Cambodian purchased allspice – the last tiny pack in the shop – seemed slightly less flavorsome than the Hong Kong stuff)

1 ½ cups Bacardi 151

Syrup

3 cups water

750 grams molasses sugar

Infuse the rum and allspice for 2 weeks. Strain spice out. Rinse spice with a further ¾ cup of rum (Meyers). Heat the water and sugar on the stove until all of the sugar is dissolved. Allow to cool. Mix the syrup with the rum infusion and bottle. Leave for a month before drinking.

Sadly this turned out rather badly. I think I committed two key mistakes. The first mistake was using Bacardi 151. The second mistake was using molasses sugar. I figured I would go for the darkest sugar I could find to ensure a nice rich taste. Molasses sugar just does not work, giving an odd pungent and sour taste that is just not good

My second attempt was far more successful. This time I was making it in New Zealand, where obtaining allspice and Demerara rum was not a problem. Scared by my last attempt I was more cautious with the quantities.

Infusion

Generous ¼ cup lightly crushed allspice

1 1/8 cups Demerara rum (Woods)

Syrup

1 ½ cups water

350 grams light Muscovado sugar

Infuse the rum and allspice for ten days. Strain spices out of the rum. Rinse remaining spices with a further 1/8 cup of Demerara rum. Boil water and sugar until sugar is dissolved. Cool and add rum mixture. Leave for a month before drinking.

The second version was far superior to the first one. I think the difference was using Demerara rum and a lighter sugar. Unfortunately you really do need the Demerara rum to make this liqueur. Demerara rum has a spicy and sweet taste that helps the flavors integrate. The high alcohol content also helps in the infusion, and plus Demerara rum is simply a better quality product than Bacardi.

Well there you have it. . . I have seen recipes online for more complicated pimento dram recipes that include ingredients like lime zest and Angostura Bitters. I am not sure there is any need to get too complex. The above recipe works well for me.

Now the only problem is finding good cocktails that use this stuff. . .

Recipe for a Kingston Cocktail

1 ½ oz Jamaican Rum (Appleton’s Estate)

½ oz Kummel (Wolfschmidt)

½ oz orange juice

1 dash pimento dram (I used a little over half a teaspoon of my homemade stuff – just to make sure it didn’t get lost)

Harry Craddock reckons that the mixture of Kummel and Pimento Dram is what makes the drink special. There just may be something in it. I was surprised by how strongly the allspice came through. Obviously the Kummel dominates, but the pimento dram contributes a clear spicy undercurrent that mixes nicely with the rum and caraway.

CockailDB lists several variations of this drink, which also appears as a Lupe Velez, a Mexicano, and a Surprised Cocktail. There are slight differences among them but the principle remains the same. The Lupe Velez and Mexicano use light rum instead of Jamaican rum, with the former increasing the pimento dram to ¼ oz while the latter keeps the pimento dram at just a dash but ups the kummel and orange juice. The Surprised Cocktail is identical to the Kingston. I wouldn’t mind trying the Lupe Velez sometime, just to see what the extra pimento dram does.

The Kingston must have been popular at some stage to pick up some many different names and variations. That seems pretty good going to a drink using such a counter intuitive combination of ingredients.

Incognito

6 parts Lillet

3 parts Cognac

1 part apricot brandy

1 dash Peychauld’s Bitters

Stir over ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

This is excellent! It is a nice smooth drink that should show off a good apricot brandy very well. It is also a nice drink for showing off Lillet. As a fruity and summery aperitif wine Lillet makes a great partner to a flavor like apricot. Lillet being slightly bitter means you have to pick the apricot flavor out in this drink, but not every apricot brandy drink should taste assertively of apricots. The Cognac adds some backbone and richness, and the Peychaud’s Bitters give a little complexity without the heavy spicy notes of something like Angostura. Not being an especially strong drink it is also suitable for the oversized cocktail glasses that are favored these days. My only reservation is that since the formula of Lillet changed in the 1980s to become less bitter, this drink must taste a little different to how it was intended.

Culross Cocktail

1 ½ oz gold rum (I used Cruzan Estate)

½ oz Lillet

¼ oz lime juice

¼ oz apricot brandy

Shake over ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

This drink has tons of potential. It was a tad light bodied and watery, but I colder ice and a different rum might improve that. Maybe the proportions should also be reworked a little. There are several versions of this drink. This drink deserves to be looked at further.

Peck

1 ½ oz gin

½ oz dry vermouth

½ oz apricot brandy

Stir over ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

This is a simple but very tasty drink. There is a similar drink that uses Crème de Cassis in place of the apricot brandy. I think it is called a Parisien or something similar. Anyway, this one uses the same principle but with a different liqueur.

Maidens Prayer Variation

¾ oz gin

¾ oz Lillet

½ oz calvados

½ oz apricot brandy

Stir over ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

The addition of calvados makes this one very interesting. However, as it stands I think it comes across as a little confused. Some tweaking around with the proportions might really improve it. It could deserve a second look some time.

Mayfair Cocktail

1 1/2 oz gin

1/2 oz orange juice

1/2 oz apricot brandy

1 dash of pimento dram

optional pinch of cloves (I didn’t bother – but in retrospect I should probably have added a dash of Angostura Bitters since that has a clove taste)

Shake with ice and strain into a glass.

I was excited about this one. It isn’t often I get a chance to break out my homemade pimento dram. Sadly it didn’t do much for me. The apricot brandy and orange juice combination is just not exciting. This might work better with a tarter citrus juice.

Charlie Lindbergh

1 ¼ oz gin

1 oz Lillet

¼ oz apricot brandy

1 dash orange bitters

Stir over ice and strain into a glass.

Tasty but in a very average way.

Prohibition

1 oz gin

1 oz Lillet

¼ oz orange juice

¼ oz apricot brandy

Shake over ice, garnish with a lemon twist, and strain into a cocktail glass.

Given the excellent name and the list of ingredients I had been expecting to enjoy this one. Unfortunately it was a bit of a let down. It looks good on paper but somehow the orange juice-apricot-Lillet combination does not work very well. Small amounts of orange juice mixed with Lillet seem slightly insipid.

Barbara East Cocktail

1 oz bourbon

¾ oz grapefruit juice

½ oz apricot brandy

¼ tsp sugar (I left the sugar out)

Shake over ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

This was pleasant enough but not especially exciting.

Shrapnel

1 ¼ oz bourbon

½ oz sweet vermouth

½ oz dry vermouth

¼ oz apricot brandy

Stir over ice, strain into a cocktail glass, and garnish with an orange slice.

This is really just an apricot accented Manhattan. Neither unpleasant nor very exciting.

The theme for this month’s Mixology Monday (hosted at Cocktail Nerd) is Fizz. A few obvious things came to mind (Tom Collins, G&T, French 75, etc.), but I thought I’d try and do something nobody else was likely to come up with. Given how well a heavy dose of bitters worked in the Calvados Cocktail I made last month, I thought that this month I’d once again go for something bitters heavy. This time though I decided to use Angostura.

I have heard that during prohibition Angostura Bitters remained legally available, and so people took to using it for effect rather than a flavor enhancer. There are thus a few old recipes using Angostura very heavily and I thought I’d try one.

I started with a recipe for an Angostura Fizz (which you can find online at www.cocktaildb.com). I didn’t have any cream though, so I started adjusting things, and of course once you start down that road it gets hard to stop. I decided to use ginger beer instead of soda, plus some ginger wine to really bring out the ginger taste. I made a version with one once each of Angostura Bitters and Stone’s Ginger Wine, topped up with ginger beer. The ginger was a bit lost in all the Angostura Bitters though, and so I started to think about something to cut the bitters with. My homemade Pimento Dram (allspice liqueur) seemed an inspired choice and worked very well. It may not have been entirely necessary but I decided to throw a little rum into the mix as well, just to add another dimension of spice.

I had recently bought a spicy Indian rum called Old Monk. Old Monk seems to be a bit of a cult item. Indians living overseas wax lyrical about the stuff. However, this misty eyed enthusiasm has to be balanced against the product’s rock bottom price back in India. If it was that good wouldn’t the producers be charging a little more for it? The name is also suspicious. We all know about Chartreuse and Benedictine liqueurs, and who hasn’t heard of Trappist beer? But what did monks ever know about rum? Old Monk is interesting tasting, with a rich spicy caramel type profile, but I have to wonder if some of the taste might not come from various additives. I certainly doubt that genuine monks are involved in its production.

The use of the Indian rum and Caribbean Angostura Bitters and Pimento Dram allowed me to come up with a silly name for this drink.

So this was the final recipe.

East & West Indian Fizz

¾ oz Stones Ginger Wine

½ oz Angostura Bitters

½ oz Pimento Dram (homemade)

½ oz Old Monk Rum

Bundaberg Ginger Beer

Stir over ice in a Collins glass and top up with ginger beer.

The result is a pleasant fizzy drink for people who like spicy flavors. The caramel from the Old Monk may comes through pretty strong considering everything else in there. Maybe this is a hint that you could substitute another rum or even omit the rum entirely? The recipe could certainly be played around with some more, but personally I reckon the big dose of Angostura, together with Pimento Dram, ginger wine and ginger beer is a winning combination.

The theme for this week’s Mixology Monday (hosted at Spirit World) is Drinks for a Festive Occasion. I was a little stumped about what to contribute. I had been thinking about something using my homemade Pimento Dram, the Jamaican allspice liqueur. Allspice evokes the holiday season more than most tastes do. I am not entirely happy with how my Pimento Dram has turned out though. The only over-proof rum I could find was Bacardi 151 which may be the reason my Pimento Dram is a little harsh, and the allspice taste is more ‘hot’ than fragrant. However, rough Pimento Dram is better than none.

I was still thinking along the lines of Pimento Dram when I wandered down to the supermarket looking for some cider. The plan was to do mulled cider with a shot of Pimento dram in it. It turned out that the supermarket no longer stocked cider, but they did have something unexpected and even more seasonal – Samichlaus Bier from Austria.

Samichlaus Bier (Santa Claus Beer) bills itself as the strongest lager beer in the world. For a while it was the strongest beer in the world but with all the microbreweries opening up in the U.S. over the last decade I think some U.S. brewery now claims that title. Samichlaus Bier is brewed each year at Christmas and released in time for the following Christmas, meaning it counts as an aged beer. The beer itself is a deep copper color, with a sweet and winy taste, relatively little bitterness, and a staggering 14% alcohol by volume. It used to be made in Switzerland, but now seems to be made in Austria.

I don’t know how easy this beer is to buy internationally, but since it has turned up in Shanghai I expect it is widely distributed. It used to appear in New Zealand each year before Christmas. I remember one year walking into a wine shop and being surprised to find the stuff. The woman who owned the shop waxed lyrical about what fantastic stuff it was and I bought a couple of bottles. A year later I happened to walk past the same shop and saw the same beer, this time at a give away price and a sign reading “The most revolting beer in the world! Please help us get rid of it!” I think I bought a case.

The Austrian version seems to have less character than the original Swiss version but it is still a pleasant beer. It is a bit sweet and you wouldn’t want to drink it too often, but it is definitely not revolting. I thought it would be fun to use Samichlaus Bier to make an ale flip.

A flip is a very old fashioned winter drink that simply involves mixing hot alcohol, an egg, sugar, and maybe something spicy for flavor. A Samichlaus Bier flip seemed perfect for the holiday season, and since a flip is vaguely punch-like you could mix this stuff up in a large batch to serve a crowd. Note that I’m not suggesting in any way that this would be a good idea and obviously you should check the details of your home and contents insurance policy first. Alternatively just serve it at a friend’s house and observe the fun.

The recipe. . .

Sleigh Flip (or Santa May Not Make It)

250ml Samichlaus Bier

1 egg

30ml St. James amber rum

2 teaspoons Pimento Dram

4 dashes Angostura Bitters

2 dashes orange bitters

1 teaspoon dark muscovado sugar

Warm the egg in a bowl of hot water to bring it to room temperature or slightly above. Warm the beer to just below boiling point. Be careful not to actually let it boil or it may spill everywhere. In a warm bowl (the bowl you just warmed the egg in would be easiest) beat the egg with the rum, Pimento Dram, bitters and sugar until slightly frothy. Add the warm beer and beat together. Pour into a mug and serve.

This doesn’t have to be made with Samichlaus beer. Any reasonably full bodied beer would work nicely. Samichlaus is a lager but generally ales would work better. Samichlaus works well because it is an extra strong lager and so has plenty of taste. You might want to adjust the ratio of sugar somewhat depending on the beer you use. Samichlaus is very sweet so you need no more than a teaspoon, or could even dispense with the sugar entirely. Using a less sweet beer you could consider adding more sugar.

St. James or some other Martinique rum seems an appropriate spirit addition because it has complex but not too assertive flavors and relatively little sweetness. Whiskey would also be interesting too but may be a little dominant. Brandy would be nice but would be less traditional than rum. Rum was often used in flips when they were still popular (in the 19th century and earlier) probably mainly because it was cheaper than brandy or whiskey, and more appropriate than gin. I am ready to try most things, but a mug of hot gin, beer and an egg? Hmm. . . maybe after a mug of hot rum, beer and an egg.

Benedictine makes a nice substitute for the Pimento Dram, though in this case consider leaving out the bitters and upping the ratio of Benedictine since Benedictine is relatively subtle. If using Benedictine consider substituting honey for the sugar. You could even consider trying Chartreuse. It sounds a little crazy, but why be shy when dealing with half a pint of hot beer and an egg? A drink like this calls for some heavy flavors.

Enjoy!